Reality
by wyldcat
Summary: The Doctor meets a dog that is remarkably perceptive and looks remarkably like K9. Slight TenRose, set sometime after The Age of Steel.


Summary: The Doctor meets a dog that is remarkably perceptive and looks remarkably like K9. Coincidence?

Disclaimer: don't own.

A/N: I do get the most random ideas. Oh, the number of words I can use just to talk about a dog… The story got away from me at the end, as you'll see. After the initial idea of the Doctor talking to a dog (I was planning for a humorous story) it just wrote itself and almost got away from me a few times. I have several different versions of the story, all incomplete since I kept writing myself into a corner. :D Anyway, I hope the story makes sense. The ending, that is. And seriously, this story has been sitting on my computer – complete – for more than three months now. Uhuh. I am _that_ hesitant to put it up.

Oh well. Read!

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**Reality**

The Doctor ambled through the crowd dotting the shopping mall. Two shops down from his starting point, he turned and walked back, past the café and two shops down on the other side before turning back again.

He had been doing this for ten minutes now.

What was Rose _doing_ in there? He peered into the café on his way past, trying to discern real from reflection and bleached blonde from everything else. He hoped she hadn't picked up his habit of attracting trouble wherever he went.

Then at his feet, something whined.

The Doctor looked down, and a dog looked up. Then he shook his head slightly and checked over his shoulder. Nothing. He looked back down.

"You're not looking at me, are you?" He began to feel stupid.

The dog stared and ever so slowly blinked. Just once.

The Doctor raised an affronted eyebrow and resumed pacing up and down the footpath. Two doors down, two doors back, the café, two doors the other way, two doors back, the café _again…_and the dog was tracking his every move.

He stopped, squatted down and studied the dog _very_ closely. Grey, tangled fur, fourteen inches tall, perky ears, tufty tail, huge brown eyes that…did he dare to describe it as sweet, melted chocolate? …but in any case! It was a perfectly normal, Earth dog. It had a nose too. He poked it, so it must be real.

He had a question on the tip of his tongue, but to preserve his image of being sane he glanced around furtively in all directions before looking the dog in the eyes. "Why are you staring at me?"

Like perfectly normal, ordinary Earth dogs, this one didn't reply. Did they usually stare at something for inordinately excessive periods of time though?

"Alright," he said, beginning to feel snappish. "Stop pretending, I know you can talk. Now, talk!" he ordered. In response, all he got was a few funny looks from the passing shoppers.

He turned back to the dog. "Right. Look, I don't know what you're – oi! You're laughing at me!" he exclaimed, partly amazed and partly offended. The most expressive eyes he had ever seen, and they were _laughing_ at him. "Stop it!" he told the dog sternly. "I'm a Time Lord and no one, not even a little doggie like you has the right to do that!" The dog was now nuzzling his sneakers in a _very_ distracting way. The stern expression melted from his face and he chuckled, tickling its exposed belly. "I'm definitely a dog person," he remarked to himself.

After a few minutes of entertaining himself and the dog, he cupped one hand under its head and studied it. The dog tilted its head to the side and studied him right back. The Doctor grinned. "You are adorable beyond words, but who are you?" He fished the sonic screwdriver from his pocket and scanned the dog from all angles. "Well," he said finally, sitting cross-legged on the ground in front of him, "you're nothing special. Apparently. But for some reason…you look awfully familiar." He frowned, scratching his sideburns absentmindedly while the dog playfully chewed on the tails of his coat. The more he stared at the dog, the more the little nagging feeling of familiarity in the corner of his mind increased.

Then it struck him. "Oh! You're K9! That's who you are!" The dog stopped chewing his coat and looked up at him. "Well, K9 in flesh. Well, maybe not, but you two look exactly the same! Except for the eyes of course. And the shape…" He was silent for a moment before he cautiously asked, "You didn't happen to come through an inter-dimensional wormhole, did you? Parallel universe, maybe? No? Oh _yes_, that's it!" His grin was manic. "You fell through a crack in time, a hole between worlds didn't you? Didn't you?"

The dog gave him a _look_ and the Doctor deflated under it. Then he fumbled in his deep pockets and put on what looked like a pair of 3D glasses. He stared through them for a long moment before taking them off slowly. "No void stuff. You're from here," he said, a little disappointed. "You're not K9."

The dog gave a small bark and launched itself onto the Doctor's lap, almost knocking him backwards. He smiled, rubbing its head affectionately. "Your mind is incredibly perceptive though. So perceptive that…I'm beginning to wonder…" He paused, hesitation written plainly across his face. "If you don't want me to do this, then tell me." The dog looked at him, complete trust in its eyes. The Doctor hated to risk breaking this strange, close relationship with him but the urge to just _know_ who he was was unbearable. He placed two fingers on either side of his head and closed his eyes.

He slid into his mind oh so gently, not wanting to take any chances with how much pressure he could force upon him. Nine hundred years of time and space and he had never read a dog's mind before, but this was no ordinary dog. The images he saw behind closed eyelids were sharp and filled with colour and emotion. Pure, unbounded perceptiveness.

Wait a minute. Colour?

His eyes snapped open and locked with the dog's liquid brown ones. "You're genetically modified," he breathed. He sprang to his feet and began to pace. "But this is the twenty-first century! You don't have genetically modified dogs, not with minds almost like human ones for at least another hundred years!" he said almost accusingly. "How did you get here? Unless…" He stopped, thinking it over. "You've travelled in time, but not between parallel universes. So you're a Time Agent's dog, aren't you?" There was no question in his voice. "You came looking for me, but why?" He resumed pacing agitatedly when the dog quietly whined. "Oh…" he said softly, crouching in front of him again. One look in his eyes told him all. He didn't even need to read his mind.

Rubbing his head comfortingly, he said, "You have an excellent nose, you know. Sniffing out artron energy is an amazing feat." He could see the pride in the dog's eyes. "I know you want to come with me and see the universe…but you can't."

The dog suddenly stilled under his hand and he swallowed uncomfortably. "I'm sorry."

"Doctor, what are you doing?" Rose Tyler stood over him, bag of chips in one hand and a blatant expression of disbelief etched on her features.

He shot to his feet in an instant. "Uh…patting a dog," he said while one hand scratched the back of his head uncomfortably.

A grin started to form on her face. "_And_ talking to it."

The Doctor shrugged awkwardly. "Well yeah, there was that too."

Rose smirked. "So your conversation with the local stray, was it anything I shouldn't know about?" Her eyebrows rose suggestively.

The Doctor opened his mouth to retort when his brain caught up to his ears. "Local stray?" he questioned.

"Um, yeah…" she said, feeling wrong-footed with the swift change of topic.

"Since when?"

"I don't know, maybe a bit more than a year?" she said, taking a wild guess.

"A bit more than a year…" he echoed, mulling it over while absentmindedly pilfering a chip from the bag.

"I wish mum would let me keep it, but with the apartment and all," she explained while threading her fingers through its tangled fur. "Oh my God," she suddenly realised, taking a step back. "It looks like K9!"

"Oh! Yeah, he does actually," he agreed, startled that Rose could see the resemblance so quickly.

"You don't suppose it's from a parallel universe?" she speculated, oblivious to his surprise.

The Doctor shook his head. "Nah, not a chance. He's from one hundred years into your future, give or take. A genetically modified dog with a brain almost like a human's."

Rose's eyes widened. "You mean…like a Cyberman? Cyberdog?"

He almost laughed at the incredulous look on her face. "Interesting analogy, but not really, no. Their brains were mutated over time, not transplanted and that makes a whole world of difference. It makes them more human." He looked down at the dog for a long moment before forcefully tearing his gaze away from those mournful eyes. "Come on, back to the TARDIS," he said shortly.

"What? But you can't just leave him here!" she shouted indignantly.

Oh Rose. His stubborn, compassionate little human. He turned around, not daring to look at the dog. "It's a stray," he stated, carefully maintaining a blank expression.

"Well he wouldn't be if you'd just take him with you!" she argued.

"We can't." He refused to meet her eyes.

"Why not? You've got the entire TARDIS – there's plenty of space for him!"

Suddenly he felt incredibly frustrated. "Think about what we do, every day!" he snapped. "Always travelling, never settling down. Even Time Agents don't do that. That dog won't have a normal life and genetically modified or not, they don't react well to time travel! Do you want him to die early?" He glared, waiting.

Rose faltered. "No, but…" She bent down to pick up the dog and held it up to him. "Doctor, meet K9. K9, meet the Doctor. You _know_ that he doesn't belong here, not in this time period."

The Doctor froze under her steady gaze, unable to move or breathe. She stepped closer, sensing his resolve weakening. "K9 wants to go home, that's all. And you're going to do it." She paused, her mouth quirking slightly. "The TARDIS isn't a time machine for nothing."

"Ah…you got me, Rose," he said at last, smiling slightly which Rose gladly returned as the tension broke like water in a sieve. He gently scooped K9 into his arms. "Come on, boy. Off to the twenty-second century!"

They spent the day there, seeing new places, trying new food, essentially drinking in the sights without trouble looming over their shoulder. A rarity, they realised over tea and chips. Rose had spotted a market and they had gone shopping, and further up ahead there was a theme park much to Rose's genuine amusement as there were several rides for genetically modified pets to enjoy, all of which K9 delighted in.

Too soon it was time to go.

"We'll come back and visit, yeah?" Rose asked, looking up from where she was cuddling K9 for the last time.

"If you want," he replied, trying to keep his expression neutral. Something must have slipped past though, because Rose gave him an understanding look and entered the TARDIS ahead of him to wait.

"So…" the Doctor began after a moment, "where will you go next? Any…I don't know, family? Friends?"

K9 stared back at him, a hint of uncertainty lurking in his eyes.

The Doctor let out a long breath and slowly knelt down in front of him. "You're lucky, you know. You probably have a huge family. Lots of brothers and sisters and even cousins, I bet. Earth's not all that big a place and there's got to be someone you know out there, still living their ordinary lives day after day. But look at you!" He rubbed his head affectionately and K9 wagged his tail with vigour. "You've had the experience of a lifetime. Travelling with your Time Agent and meeting the last Time Lord in the universe…" He swallowed thickly. "It doesn't get much better than that."

He paused, thinking carefully about what he was going to say. "You look so much like the K9 I knew and travelled with. Actually, there were four of them. Robot dog, you know. Different models. But that's _exactly_ why I can't take you with me. You're a living, breathing, flesh and blood dog, and if something happened to you I…" He trailed off as the dog before him blurred into the millions of faces he once knew and still loved in one way or another, even after all these years. As if sensing his mood, K9 comfortingly licked his hand and he shakily pulled out of his reverie, quietly adding, "I can't repair or replace you like a broken model, because you're _real_."

He stood up, giving him a final, gentle pat on his head. "Goodbye, K9." He pushed open the TARDIS's doors and didn't look back.

+O+

Rose watched as the Doctor looked everywhere but her while punching in coordinates and twiddling with the controls. As he looked upwards at the oscillating central column she finally caught his eyes. "I heard what you said out there," she apologised.

"Ah," he replied noncommittally.

"But…" she said slowly, "I thought you said we couldn't take K9 because he couldn't handle the constant travelling."

"That was part of the reason," he said evasively.

"And…what you said outside, just then?" she prompted softly, stepping closer.

"The other part of the reason."

"Why me then?"

"Why you what?" He was avoiding the subject and they both knew it.

"You know!" Rose resisted the urge to sigh exasperatedly and let him have his own way. "I'm not a robot or anything. I can't be repaired if I'm broken."

"I know."

Her next reply died on her lips at his intense look. They were barely an arm's length apart and Rose felt like she was suffocating under his gaze. "Doctor?" she said faintly.

Suddenly he engulfed her in a tight hug. "Rose, I…" He stopped, at loss for words. "You're different," he said at last. "Just different."

"Is that a good thing?" she asked, a little apprehensively.

She felt him smile against her hair, and in her ear he said with conviction, "Yes. Yes it is."

+O+

Rose pulled on her aqua blue jacket and picked up her backpack lying by the door. Outside, she waited for the Doctor to find the sleeves of his long brown coat before they set out across the lawn. Her hand found his easily and she tugged his sleeve to get his attention. "After we see my mum, can we visit K9?" she asked.

"K9 Mark IV or –"

"K9 from the twenty-second century," she finished for him.

He grinned. "Sure."

"And we'll find a bigger and better theme park?" she asked hopefully.

"Whatever you and K9 want," he agreed.

That day never came.

END

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It IS artron energy, right? 

I made the ending abrupt on purpose because…well Doomsday was pretty abrupt as well, and I thought it would work better. Do you think it works better this way? Well, I'm also almost incapable of writing happy/sappy endings. Sad endings are much better and are more realistic. :D

Hmm, I just read on wikipedia that the Daleks invaded Earth around 2164 and Susan's there. Let's just say the Doctor dropped the K9 look-alike off in 2101, yeah? A lot can change in 63 years!

I really can't think of a good title. This one wasn't posted for months because I couldn't think of a good title (amongst other things, like, "Is this story any good at all?" Ah, I'll stop worrying right…about…now…). Well anyway, I still don't particularly like this title either. Any other suggestions?

Oh, and someone from the UK, answer this, please? Explain the whole GCSE thing to me (for the 2003 syllabus, if you can). Like, what subjects you do, what exams you take, how many subjects you can take, which ones are the compulsory ones, which ones are the ones people usually do. Also, when are the holidays, and when are the exams? I don't care how you tell me the info, so long as I get it! Anyone? (Before you ask, all these questions are for another fic that's in the works.)

Anyway, please review! If you love getting reviews, you can bet that everyone else loves getting reviews too. Know what I mean? (This super-long author note is the consequence of not posting until months after it was written…)

Thanks for reading in any case!


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